1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a passenger protection system having an airbag which is deployed along an inner side surface of the interior of a vehicle in a form such as that of a drawn curtain.
Priority is claimed on Japanese Patent Application No. 2004-302698, filed Oct. 18, 2004, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
Regarding a passenger protection system having an airbag which is deployed along an inner side surface of the interior of a vehicle in a form such as that of a drawn curtain, in order to smoothly deploy the airbag between the inner side surface and a passenger, a technique is known in which the passenger is pushed toward the inside of the interior from the inner side surface, specifically, by using a pushing device arranged around a window (see Reference 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2002-362295). In addition, in order to control the deployment of the airbag, a technique is known for determining whether there is a possibility of vehicle roll-over occurring, based on a roll angle and a roll angular velocity (see Reference 2: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2001-071787).
In the above technique as disclosed in Reference 1, it is of course necessary to secure a space for arranging the pushing device arranged around a window; thus, the space of the interior of the vehicle is somewhat reduced. In addition, the pushing device must operate before the deployment of the airbag; thus, an expensive device having high responding performance is necessary.